(Newser)
–
Washington is approaching a broad consensus: It’s time for the government to step in to create universal health care, the Los Angeles Times reports. Both left and right have abandoned pet plans in favor of a middle ground that maintains the current employer-based system, while driving down costs and rewarding good care. And leaders in the debate want to funnel vast sums into such reform, despite burgeoning national deficit.

The left has largely moved past the idea of a single-payer plan, while calls from the right for an incentive-based system to push Americans to buy their own insurance have also quieted. But while both sides recognize the need for sweeping reform, “once you get into the details, the consensus is going to vanish pretty quickly, I suspect,” says an analyst.